OUT ON A LIMB: It’s February And Love Is In The Air

February 14. 2012 | By Jennifer Shields

I have something I have to get off my chest and since we are in the heart of February, I figure there’s no better time than the present:

I’m in love with a married man and his band of merry men… and women.

The married man and his band go by the name of Sea Wolf and I LOVE them. Now, I think we can agree that there are several different levels of love from “I totally LOVE that shirt!” to “I’m madly in love with my life partner!” Somewhere in between those two drastically different levels of love, everyone has a level of love for their music. Mine just so happens to fall within a hairline of 2nd place to my love of my own amazing husband.

I’ve met frontman Alex Brown Church and the rest of Sea Wolf several times. Although I’m not one to get star struck when meeting a celebrity, something about their music speaks to me on such a deep level that I’m reduced to a frantic teenager meeting (insert any teen heart-throb here) when I find myself face to face with any of them. I fumble my way through an embarrassing excuse for a conversation and then on my drive home remember all of the relevant things I could’ve mentioned to them. I’m lucky that the band is so personable. Making themselves available to their fans at their shows is something I appreciate in a band. But I’ve made a silly fool of myself in front of them now more times than I can count and I’m sure they have probably all gone out of their way to block me from their Facebook accounts. Ok, that may be (rather, I’m hoping that’s) an exaggeration, but you get my point.

When I sit down and really think about this though, it becomes clear that humans tend to stumble through relationships and experiences that are of utmost importance to them. Think about how nervous the bride and groom are at weddings, or when a person is making a life decision, or speaking to someone they’re falling in love with. This is natural and normal. Then thinking further, it’s easy to see the similarities between falling in love with a life partner and falling in love with an artist or band. Both touch you where it matters most: in your heart and soul. You’re involuntarily vulnerable to the situation.

Here’s how it starts:

Life Partner: Talk on the phone or see each other in person damn near 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Favorite Band: Listening to only that band damn near 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Life Partner: Tell everyone around you about this AMAZING person you’ve met.
Favorite Band: Tell everyone around you about this AMAZING band you’ve just found.

Life Partner: Hunger to know everything there is to know about this person.
Favorite Band: Obsess over their entire discography, documentaries, and live DVD’s.

Life Partner: Your friends become their friends and vice versa.
Favorite Band: Make new friends through other fans at shows or social networking.

Life Partner: Get comfortable enough to start hanging out with other people, knowing Life Partner will be there when you come back to him/her.
Favorite Band: Listen to other music, knowing Favorite Band will always be just as special whenever you come back to it.

Few things affect a person’s life like a life partner or a favorite band. They are much the same in the deep way that your life and personality tends to mold around that fancy.

To Alex Church and the rest of Sea Wolf; I hope you take my pathetic display of nerd-tastic conversations with you as what they are: a deep love of what you create and what you do. Maybe give me just one more autograph and a hug before you draw the line.

Much love to all of you regular people that make the amazing music that is able to cut straight through to the core of your fans and grab them tightly by the heart. It means as much to us as it does to you.


The opinions expressed in Out On A Limb are of the writers’ and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of The Owl Mag.

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